SINGAPORE: Ship-tracking data showed three liquefied natural gas tankers passed through the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, heading to Pakistan, China and India, as well as a supertanker with Iraqi crude for China after being stranded for nearly three months.
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran that began on February 28 has severely curtailed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG supply normally flows.
A HANDFUL OF TANKERS HAVE LEFT THE GULF THIS MONTH
The vessels join a handful of supertankers leaving the Gulf this month via a transit route that Iran has ordered ships to use. Last week, three Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) made their way to China and South Korea with 6 million barrels of crude.
LNG tanker Fuwairit crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and is expected to discharge its cargo in Pakistan on Tuesday, LSEG and Kpler shipping data showed. The vessel, sailing under the Bahamas flag, loaded LNG at Qatar’s Ras Laffan port around March 28.
The LNG tanker Al Rayyan has also passed through the waterway. Carrying a cargo loaded at Ras Laffan, it was last seen in the Gulf on May 22, and is now located outside the strait between Iran and Oman. It is expected to discharge its cargo in China on June 27, LSEG and Kpler data shows.
QatarEnergy, which owns Al Rayyan, did not respond immediately to a request for comment outside office hours.
A tanker managed by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) also crossed the strait. The Al Hamra was last seen on April 19 east of the strait. It reappeared on ship-tracking data on May 23 off the coast of India, Kpler data shows.
ADNOC did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Separately, the VLCC Eagle Verona, which exited the strait on Saturday, is expected to reach Ningbo port in eastern China on June 12 to discharge its cargo, LSEG and Kpler data showed.
The Singaporean-flagged vessel chartered by Unipec, the trading arm of Asian refiner Sinopec, loaded nearly 2 million barrels of Basrah crude around February 26, the data showed.
The Eagle Verona was among seven ships for which Malaysia had sought permission to transit, two sources had told Reuters. Five of the ships have since exited the waterway while two more remain in the Gulf.
Sinopec and Malaysian state shipper MISC, which owns the vessel, could not be reached for immediate comment.
Before the war began, shipping traffic through the strait averaged 125 to 140 daily passages. About 20,000 seafarers remain stranded on hundreds of ships in the Gulf.
